Disrupting Bias without Trainings: The Effect of Equity Advocates on Faculty Search Committees

Autor/inn/en	Cahn, Peter S.; Gona, Clara M.; Naidoo, Keshrie; Truong, Kimberly A.
Titel	Disrupting Bias without Trainings: The Effect of Equity Advocates on Faculty Search Committees
Quelle	In: Innovative Higher Education, 47 (2022) 2, S.253-272 (20 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Cahn, Peter S.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0742-5627
DOI	10.1007/s10755-021-09575-5
Schlagwörter	Equal Opportunities (Jobs); Search Committees (Personnel); Personnel Selection; Workshops; Social Bias; Decision Making; Evaluation Criteria; Race; Racial Bias; Professional Personnel; Advocacy + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Equal opportunity; Equal opportunities; Job; Jobs; Chancengleichheit; Beruf; Auswahlgespräch; Personalauswahl; Personalentscheidung; Lernwerkstatt; Schulung; Decision-making; Entscheidungsfindung; Rasse; Abstammung; Racial discrimination; Rassismus; Personalbestand; Sozialanwaltschaft
Abstract	Many institutions of higher education have implemented workshops for hiring committee members to familiarize them with the pernicious effects of implicit bias and how to counteract them. Unfortunately, the enthusiasm for implicit bias trainings is not matched by the evidence for their effectiveness. Recognizing the difficulty of removing entrenched biases and the potential for trainings to backfire, we introduced the role of equity advocate (EA) at one institution. EAs are trained volunteer faculty and staff members who serve on search committees outside their home departments to identify behaviors and judgments that might have a disparate racial effect in hiring. We conducted focus groups to document the perspectives of both EAs and non-EA search committee members who completed a cycle of academic hiring. Search committee members credited EAs with helping to mitigate bias by questioning their assumptions and introducing standardized tools for evaluating candidates. By contrast, EAs reported a more contentious relationship with the rest of the search committee and expressed less confidence that the process was free from bias. Both groups agreed that the EAs added valuable race-conscious equitable practices, and untrained committee members identified ways they could apply the lessons of bias reduction in other parts of their professional roles. Our study provides evidence for how to engage all faculty and staff members in sustainable, equity-minded efforts. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01